David Duchovny:<\/strong> No, I\u2019d never heard of it. Chris (Neil, the director) sent me the book when we talked about doing it, and it was a source for a little more depth, and even some dialogue, I think. I just underlined all of his dialogue in the book, and then if I liked a line I would try to smuggle it into a scene if it could fit. Chris was not precious about any of that stuff.<\/p>\n ShockYa: Chris explained his connection to the character of Goatman — how deeply it reminded him of his stepfather, and that even a good bit of the physical look of the character was drawn from him. To me, Goatman seemed like a slightly sager version of Kato Kaelin, a uniquely modern Southwestern character. Have you known people like him, these curious adult houseboy-types?<\/strong><\/p>\n DD:<\/strong> I didn\u2019t know anyone in New York like that — maybe there he\u2019s like a tennis pro? But yeah, definitely in California I\u2019ve known people like that, where you wonder how they made money. They seem to live there but how are they eating? It\u2019s just a mystery. For me the inspiration for the character was to have this cultural archetype, the stoner, Cheech and Chong dude, which is an easy stereotype that everyone knows. You laugh at it as you soon as you see it, because you know him, or think you know him. And then I wanted to subvert that, for him to seem like that and then kind of fool you into thinking he\u2019s one-dimensional. That was the challenge and interesting part to me, and having that look was important, because that\u2019s the fake-out.<\/p>\n ShockYa: Marijuana seems to be something of a talisman in the movie, no?<\/strong><\/p>\n DD:<\/strong> I think that\u2019s the same reason that the Jamaican music is in there. I think for Goatman it\u2019s more like a sacrament\u00a0— it\u2019s more like the wine in the chalice. With the rastas, ganja is part of the religion. I don\u2019t know if Goatman is a rasta, but he certainly has a lot of the effects of it. He likes the music, and it\u2019s obviously in his world. If you put that together with the wandering and his general approach to life, I would think that altering his consciousness is part of how he tunes in.<\/p>\n ShockYa: Goatman goes on these treks, which draws some snickering from the audience because you think you know what they mean, but they clearly do have a grander connection and meaning to him. As we get older the idea of unplugging from the world tends to dissipate. As an adult have you ever disappeared and just gone totally off the grid, on a trek?<\/strong><\/p>\n DD:<\/strong> No, but I think it\u2019s a good idea. I guess earlier today with Graham (Phillips) I was telling him that he should go wander the world before he can\u2019t, before it\u2019s irresponsible to do that. I wish that I had done that. But I was anxious to start to my life, whatever that is. As if that\u2019s not your life\u00a0— we have this weird prejudice against not doing, as if it\u2019s not worth doing, or not worthwhile. That\u2019s the snickering against a character like (Goatman) that you get\u00a0— “Oh, he doesn\u2019t do anything.” Maybe, maybe not.<\/p>\n ShockYa: There\u2019s a documentary out now called “Craigslist Joe” where a guy tries to live off Craiglist for a month.<\/strong><\/p>\n DD:<\/strong> This is going to sound very weird, but\u2026 I\u2019ve heard of Craigslist, but what is it? Do people buy things off it?<\/p>\n ShockYa: It\u2019s sort of like digital age classified ads.<\/strong><\/p>\n DD:<\/strong> So why would that be hard?<\/p>\n ShockYa: Well, he takes just $200, a toothbrush, the clothes on his back, and then a cell phone and his laptop, so he\u2019s looking for rideshares to different places and trying to find a place to crash every night.<\/strong><\/p>\n DD:<\/strong> Is it good?<\/p>\n ShockYa: It\u2019s an honest and meaningful experience for this guy, and so you connect to that.<\/strong><\/p>\n DD:<\/strong> There was another documentary where a guy did something like that, right, “Nowhere Man”? And there was one where the guy tried to live biblically. I hope he didn\u2019t have to stone anybody.<\/p>\n ShockYa: “Goats” also subverts expectations a bit about Graham\u2019s character\u2019s relationship to weed. So what are your feelings about marijuana legalization?<\/strong><\/p>\n DD:<\/strong> I\u2019m all for legalization. I think people are going to smoke pot anyway, and the idea that people are in jail for smoking pot and dealing pot is reprehensible to me personally. I think you could make a lot of money as a government by treating them like cigarettes and getting your taxes off of them and building roads and taking care of the people that need to be taken care of. I think it\u2019s a great idea. I don\u2019t think it would lead to any more use. Everybody I know, if they want to, has smoked pot. The fact that it\u2019s illegal doesn\u2019t stop anybody I know, so why not allow everybody to benefit from it? It would be billion of dollars of tax revenue.<\/p>\n ShockYa: Trying to explain Venice Beach and the medicinal marijuana card to friends and family back East is its own exercise in hilarity.<\/strong><\/p>\n DD:<\/strong> I guess it\u2019s kind of a scam, right? But I think those people would buy it on the street anyway even if they didn\u2019t have a card.<\/p>\n ShockYa: Was this the longest hair you\u2019ve had since Denise Bryson for “Twin Peaks”?<\/strong><\/p>\n DD:<\/strong> (laughs) With Rapture<\/em> I had extensions about just as long. It\u2019s fun to be able to look differently, and as an actor to have a mask\u00a0— or to be called upon to transform physically in a way. It can lead to very different kind of physicalizations and intonations that you wouldn\u2019t normally think of: “You fuckers ate my weed!” I love how he talks to them like people. Calling goats “you fuckers” just makes me laugh.<\/p>\n
![\"David](\"http:\/\/www.shockya.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/david-duchovny-marijuana-goats.jpg\" "\\"David")
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